Peasgood

The Zubat I got has the same tpi as the Sugoi XL according to what I can see. It all gets rather confusing with lots of variations within each model. I am using mine on anything from just under 2" upt to 6" or so but mostly 3-4" branches. I have some electric secateurs and they will do all the stuff upto nearly 2". It will do a neat cut on bigger stuff and also on smaller stuff if you are careful, Gomtaro is neater on the smaller stuff. As for sharpening, the Gomtaro is supposedly unsharpenable but I have successfully sharpened mine plenty of times using a cheap (fiver-ish) diamond feather file off Amazon. A bit of a fiddly job but 15 minutes work that results in "as new" sharpness. I'm no expert at such things, you can see the tooth profile so just file the top face flat to take out any blunt edge.

It wasn't aimed at anybody really, sorry if you thought it was. I'm a user of firewood rather than a buyer or seller and I never really get this softwood v hardwood thing as when they are dry they are usually both the same (ish). A different matter of course if you are a seller and all your customers insist on hardwood or big discount.

Willow and poplar are hardwood

I'm not convinced it is canker as it appears to have a callousing edge to it. Just cut it off a bit lower and it should be fine.

My heating, DHW and cooking is 95% leylandii. Only one my missus can light too.

That's UPS for you, typical Americans bringing their company structure to the UK without any thought that another country might do things differently. You can't just have a one size fits all approach to global industries. Besides all that, I have been out deforesting Cheshire for the rest of the afternoon. All I can say is that I wish I had bought one of these to start with instead of a Gomtaro. Thank you for your help @silky fox your suggestion was spot on.

They have phoned to say "mailbox" = "in the cab of the tractor down in the yard, the clean one not the dirty one as he didn't want to put it in the dirty one" So, Having found it and finished my office work just in time for the rain to go off I am now off out to play.

Well we are off to a flying start. UPS tracking says it has been delivered to my mailbox. For a start I don't have a mailbox.........

I understand your sentiments and at one time I would have reacted the same way but it is not a rational response to what happened. Nor is giving back the money raised as that was probably the only good thing that came of it. Nowadays I would be annoyed but would expect my missus to deal with it appropriately herself and if truth be told nowadays she would probably secretly feel flattered. I do not condone what happened but it has been blown out of proportion which is exactly what the undercover reporter wanted in the first place. How come nobody's said owt about deaf people going to concerts and then whingeing they missed out?

All my work is done from the floor and if it is a particularly heavy branch I shorten it first. Big chunks fallen out of control always rip the bark. I don’t want that, I don’t do that. I have 16 acres of mature traditional apples that require some heavy pruning. 5 acres already done. Been doing this for nearly 40 years, very rare I use a chainsaw as the cuts don’t heal so well.

I have ordered one, should be with me tomorrow. In an above post of mine I quoted the teeth per 30mm of various models, with further research the Zubat Arborist has 5.5/30mm which is more aggressive than all the others yet the Zubat is quoted elsewhere as 7.5. It gets very confusing without having the actual blade in front of you.

Thanks for the reply @silky fox Since posting my question I found the Honey brothers site gives the details of each saw to compare. From there I had kind of narrowed down my selection to Sugoi, Sugowaza or Ibuki. Have you used any of them to compare with the Zubat? Gomtaro has 8 teeth/30mm, Zubat 7.5 and the other three step up to 6.5. Maybe the curve of the Zubat blade gives it more of an advantage over the straight Gomtaro as well as the teeth pitch. Every time I think I have decided something makes me change my mind again. Arrrggghhh! Perhaps my chainsaw is the real answer but I don't like the finish or the noise.

I've had a Gomtaro for pruning apples for some years but the trees I am working on at the moment need big cuts. The Gomtaro isn't aggressive enough so I am using my Stihl turbocut without the extension. It does the job but not a good handle to use all day. What Silky is a similar size and about as aggressive as a turbocut? I definitely don't want a bigger blade, just a nicer handle really and not those bark cutting blades on each end.

Well they've lost " not an insignificant amount of mullah" and you've gained a chair you weren't over enthusiastic about. I'm not saying you are wrong, just that I see it different and couldn't be doing with a chair I don't even like much about the place.

That's what I did. (doesn't mean it's right of course)

Why don't you make your own system if you think the packfix is too expensive? You have seen mine out of an empty ibc, just make something bigger out of an empty diesel tank or something. Mine started off being filled from an elevator even though I have ended up stacking them in the ibc. Tipping in off an elevator works too but as with the packfix stacking the pallets is harder.

I would have said "Thank you for the offer of the free chair but no thanks. I appreciate the offer but don't feel you should lose out when you have already given good service." For me it is just as nice to be a fair customer as it is to get good service.

Looked out of the window this morning and something was obviously bothering the geese, they were all together and all watching the same thing. It was a big fox trit-trotting along the fenceline to their field. He wasn't interested in the geese and didn't even look in their direction from 15 yards away. (this time) I walked round the corner soon after and the gate to their field had blown wide open in the night (VF+ windy here last night)

ps. leather gloves is my choice, the ones they call driving gloves these days but much more of a work glove than those crimbo M&S present type things of yore. Stanley make good ones as do Briers

This. Applies to most risky jobs, not just Silkys. I have had the Silky bite me, had a Sandvik bowsaw do the same some years back and yesterday a hammer got my finger somehow. (just pointing out I am not on my high horse about it) Not quite sure how the hammer got me but it hurt and bled as much as the Silky bite. ( I was brave though :))

I'm a farmer, I didn't see the machine.

It's a SAME isn't it?

I have geese outside and I deliberately leave the foxes alone. The resident foxes know there is an electric fence and not to go near, shoot them and the replacements (which will be many) are not "trained" to the electric fence. I am not kidding myself that I am immune from fox attacking my geese but it is working for now. Only shot two foxes in my whole life and one of them had a cousin's hen in it's mouth. As for fox hunting, I don't get on with them very well at all but in all honesty it should never have been banned (because there are many more important things to be worrying about) and hunting is probably the best thing for foxes anyway, it removes the weak/sick and many farmers create space for foxes so they have something to hunt. I would be very surprised if hunting overall doesn't result in more foxes rather than less. They don't kill many foxes, they just crash about making lots of noise. Foxes are smarter than them.

The oddest encounter I ever had with a fox was in Manchester Smithfield market. I was delivering baskets of gooseberries and as I unloaded them (by hand) a fox sauntered along the alley where I was, walked up to the stack of gooseberry baskets not 3 feet from me, sniffed them, pissed on them, gave me a F* you look and sauntered on his way. Typical Manc really.

Yep, have to admit that's the first thing I'd do if I found a fox wedged behind my Rayburn. Surprised you had it sit on you, were you not worried about fleas, ticks and the smell? I suppose they get used to it after a while though.